


It's a New Dawn

by VeenaJ17



Category: Pentagon (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Angst, Bookworm Kim Hyojong, F/M, Friendship, Strangers to Lovers, eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2019-10-30 16:03:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17831717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeenaJ17/pseuds/VeenaJ17
Summary: Hyojong thought college would be just the same as high school, but with harder classes. A continuation of the everyday book reading, coffee brewing, band practicing, and music writing. But when a few curveballs are thrown his way, starting when he keeps bumping into his childhood library's newest staff member, Hyojong might have to realign his view of the universe and how it decides what needs changing in your life, whether you want a change or not - or are even ready for it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> READERS:  
> yes, i am aware that e’dawn is in a relationship with hyuna. i started planning this story before that was announced and before everything afterwards occured. so yes, i also know that he isn’t part of pentagon anymore, but i still am writing this as if he was, because i've been planning this story for forEVER and i am excited to write it. don’t worry, i’ll probably cry quite a bit while writing this, but i’m still gonna do it. i just wanted to say this before anyone might comment about it. i am still sad about e’dawn’s departure from pentagon and cube, so let’s try to keep the comments focused on the story and not the sadness of reality, please? and thank you! (please enjoy the first chapter!)

He ran his finger across the spines of book after book, his eyes quickly scanning across sideways titles as his feet continued to move with or without him down the aisle. He froze as a book caught his eye, reaching for it and tugging it out from its hiding space. His eyes raked over the cover before flipping it over and reading the synopsis on the back. He made a face of interest and stuck it under his arm, starting up from where he left off.

Kim Hyojong performed this procedure quite often. He would gather a few books, read them all in fair time, then return to the library for more. He had just come back to return the books he had finished and get new ones. Hyojong continued his search, coming up with another decent sized book before he decided the two would suffice. He held them close to himself, adjusting the backpack straps resting on his shoulders, and marched towards the checkout desk. As he was making his way onward he found himself swallowing down a feeling most would call nerves, but Hyojong excused as anticipation. The fact that this wasn’t the first time this happened made him shake his head in an attempt to rid himself of the intrusive thoughts.

The reason for the sudden change in confidence in the boy had to do with a certain librarian he had noticed working there. He had been visiting the library for years, ever since he was a young child. Though it was in his freshman year of college that he noticed the library had acquired a new staff member.

 

_College: Freshman Year_

 

She seemed around his age when Hyojong first saw her; several inches shorter than him, her hair bobbed and slightly frizzy with a modest flowery skirt and a blouse. He thought she would fit right in with the rest of the librarians.

That day she was putting books back on their respective shelves. She was seeming to have some trouble placing one on a higher shelf, stretching on her tiptoes and still not quite making it. Hyojong had been searching for books in the same aisle, sneaking curious glances at the girl at work. Eventually she had given up and grabbed a rickety looking stool from the bottom of the cart she had beside her, setting it on the ground and mounting it. Hyojong wandered closer, still mindlessly searching for a new read and ended up standing nearly right behind the girl, glancing discretely over his shoulder.

It was a rather small stool, the girl still needing to stand on her toes to reach her destination of the top shelf. She managed to push the book into its spot, dropping back on her heels with a sigh. The stool though was too old and unstable for such a sudden weight to be added to it. So when she put her whole weight down with a _thud_ , one of the back legs cracked in half and the stool lost the last of it’s balance and tipped. The girl let out a shriek, causing Hyojong to turn and witness what was happening. Without a second thought Hyojong quickly threw his arms out, the girl falling back into them and he caught her, falling to his knees quite ungracefully.

Hyojong let out a held breath. He turned his attention to the girl, ignoring the sudden burst of pain in his knees from hitting the floor so roughly. The girl seemed frozen, staring at the now useless stool and glancing around her before looking at Hyojong, clear eyes wide with shock.

“Are you alright?” Hyojong asked.

The girl took another moment before answering Hyojong. “Yeah,” she said slowly. “Yes, I’m alright.”

“Good,” Hyojong sighed.

“What about you? Are you hurt?” the girl asked then. Hyojong shook his head, ignoring the burning cry of his bones.

“I’m fine.” The girl nodded and became silent, looking around once more

“Well, do you think you can help me up Hercules?” the girl asked then, patting Hyojong’s chest with her palm. Hyojong raised his eyebrows at the nickname, assessing the girl’s playful expression. He grinned.

“Sure thing,” he said. Hyojong wasn’t the strongest man on the planet, despite what the girl might think in calling him ‘Hercules’. Still, he hoped his muscles didn’t shake too bad as he got onto his feet as smoothly as possible, setting the girl down carefully.

“Thank you,” the girl said suddenly. “For catching me. It was pretty great.” She smiled.

“No problem,” Hyojong said, returning a smile. The girl’s smile widened, brightened in fact, and it seemed when she did the sun came out from behind the clouds and shone through the window at the end of the aisle, shining into the library and blinding Hyojong.

“Well, I hope I don’t sound rude, especially after you practically just saved my life,” the girl said while smiling playfully. “But I have to get back to work.” She pointed a thumb at the cart behind her. Hyojong chuckled at her statement but nodded his head.

“Of course. Don’t let me keep you,” he said.

The girl nodded as well, bending over to pick up the broken stool and put it back in the bottom of the cart. “Thank you again!” she called as she started pushing the cart away from Hyojong. She turned back around for a moment as she walked and said, “Have a good day!”

“You too.”

Hyojong watched the girl stroll away for just a moment before turning back to the shelf, scanning over books once more with a lopsided smile on his face and absentmindedly rubbing his knees.

 

_College: Junior Year_

 

“Excuse me?” Hyojong called quietly.

He was now standing at the checkout desk in the library, holding the books he found to checkout; although there wasn’t anyone at the desk like he’d expected. He glanced around wondering where any staff could be. Hyojong had thought he saw the girl working when he’d first entered earlier, and he had been both excited and dreading the time for checkout; but she was nowhere in sight.

Hyojong pursed his lips, wishing someone would show, anyone at this point, since he wanted to checkout the books and head back to his apartment to study for a test he had tomorrow, one he wasn’t feeling so confident for. He ruffled his brown hair, fixing the middle part that he had just previously messed up, before calling out once more.

“Hello?”

Suddenly someone popped up from behind the desk, startling Hyojong out of his wits. He sighed heavily and placed a hand on his chest, hoping to steady his rapid heart, but it wasn’t easy; the girl at the previously empty post was the same one he’d been anxious to see. She looked a little frazzled, her ponytail slightly off-centered on the back of her head with a couple pieces that had fallen loose over the back of her neck and some framing her face. And although her looks suggested she could have very well just gone for a run, her face was lively and practically shining. She smiled brightly when she met Hyojong’s eyes.

“Hi!” she said cheerfully. “Sorry about the wait. I was putting on a band-aid.” And with that she raised her hand, showing off her left pointer finger that now had a simple tan band-aid wrapped tightly around the tip. Hyojong raised his eyebrows, ignoring the curious question about why she was putting on the band-aid underneath the checkout desk.

“Got a cut?” he prompted instead. She nodded, the soft curls that had gotten loose bouncing around her face.

“Yeah. Pretty nasty for a papercut. But I guess that’s what I get for working in a library,” the girl said smiling. Hyojong couldn’t help but laugh lightly at the girl’s remark. “Are you checking those out?” The girl indicated the books in Hyojong’s arms.

“Ah, yes.” Hyojong set the books down on the counter and slid them forward. The librarian brought them closer to herself and started scanning them.

“Do you come to the public library often?” the girl asked then.

“Yes I do, actually,” Hyojong answered.

“I thought so. I recognize you. Must have seen you around here somewhere,” she said and gave Hyojong a grin.

Hyojong chuckled, feeling something bubbling at the bottom of his stomach at knowing this information. “I don’t doubt it.”

They finished the checkout process and the girl stacked the books up, placing them back in front of Hyojong. He gathered the books into his arms and looked at the girl once more, who was smiling widely once again.

“Thank you! Hope to see you soon!” she said enthusiastically. Hyojong smiled back.

“Will do,” he said. “Thank you.”

He nodded his head respectfully and turned around, heading for the exit. As he walked, Hyojong glanced around at the library; shelves after shelves of books, old architecture mixed with modern renovations to make a surprisingly welcoming environment, and the controlled buzz of chatter throughout the main area. Going against his better judgement he glanced back to the desk he had just parted from. The girl was there, busying herself with the dated desktop computer, books, and other little things located around the desk. He turned back around quickly.

It’s not that he liked the girl - at least, not really. He doesn’t know anything about her, let alone even her name, so there’s no way Hyojong thought he could have feelings for her. She just intrigues him is all. If Hyojong was completely honest, the librarian wasn’t head turning, on the cover of magazines beautiful, but there was something about her that ever since that first interaction freshman year he couldn’t help his eyes from floating after her when she came into his line of vision. It was like she had blended in with the bookshelves before they met, then once Hyojong talked to her she seemed to be around every corner of that book-filled building.

Hyojong had been going to the library for years, but the past three years have had different meaning. He felt tired of coming here, wondering if a certain someone would be working or not, and stealing passing glances at a person he’s barely spoken a paragraph of words to in three years.

Hyojong abruptly shook his head, pivoting on his foot and heading back the way came. He once again approached the checkout desk, leaning his elbows against the counter, books still in hand, and crossed a leg behind him. He gave a closed-mouthed smile, feeling almost cocky as his confidence boosted his ego.

The girl was bent over, and Hyojong figured she must be searching for something.

“Excuse me miss,” he called.

The girl straightened out and observed Hyojong’s stance. She grinned, curiosity overcoming her face.

“Hello again,” she said lightly. She leaned forward slightly. “Ya know, this isn’t quite what I meant when I said I hoped to see you soon.” Hyojong laughed, his head falling back. He smiled at the girl, showing off his straight, hard-earned pearly whites.

“I figured.” The girl laughed a little as well, leaning away. “I actually came back to ask for your opinion,” Hyojong said.

The librarian’s eyebrows rose. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” Hyojong stood up from his slumped position, clutching his books closer to his chest. “I was wondering where the best place to study in the library is. I have a big test tomorrow that my professor decided to tell us about yesterday-” he rolled his eyes “-and I _really_ need to study for it, and I know I won’t get anything done if I go home. Do you know any spots that might have less people?” Hyojong asked.

“Less people, huh?” the librarian mumbled. She paused to think, her short fingernails clicking on the counter. It wasn’t long until her face brightened.

“I know somewhere!” she announced. “Although there aren’t many visitors that venture that way, some staff still go back there to stock shelves and stuff. How does that sound?” she finished.

“Sounds perfect,” Hyojong said with a grin.

The girl smiled back brightly. “Good. I’ll take you there.”

“Thank you.”

The girl turned and skipped out from behind the desk. She waved to Hyojong, beckoning him to follow her. Hyojong hurried over to where she waited.

“This way,” the girl said and started leading Hyojong farther into the library. She led him down aisles and made a turn or two before they entered a small open area. There were a few desks with chairs around them, as well as a sitting area in the corner consisting of a couch and a couple of cushioned chairs. Wide windows lined the walls, producing a satisfying view overlooking downtown. Hyojong nodded in admiration.

“I’ve lived here my whole life - gone to this library almost everyday - and I never knew this area existed,” Hyojong admitted, looking at the girl.

“That’s why I brought you here,” she said laughing. He smiled.

“Thanks again,” Hyojong said, making his way over to one of the tables and setting down the books he held.

“Of course! I hope you have a lot of luck studying. See you around!” the girl said, waving enthusiastically.

“Bye,” Hyojong called dumbly, simply raising his hand. The girl turned on her toes and walked back to the front of the library, most probable back to her previous post. Hyojong plopped down onto one of the chairs, his backpack sliding off his shoulder and landing harshly on the ground. His shoulders slumped slowly before he slammed his forehead down onto the desk.

Was I just…trying to flirt? Is that what that was? Hyojong wondered.

Hyojong sat there, his head throbbing against the wooden surface of the table and chided himself.

“What was I thinking…” he muttered to the empty space.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello all!!! i hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this new series i'm starting.
> 
> this will be my first series on AO3, and i'm kinda really nervous? i don't know care if i get thousands of reads, i just want to make sure i get chapters out in a good amount of time for the readers who do like my story. i am going to try and upload chapters as i write them, so those of you wonderful people who want to read my story till the end (even with the short vagueness of my first chapter) i hope you can bare with my slow writing butt and get through this story with me. that would be more than i could ever hope for.
> 
> thank you so much again for reading, and i hope to see you soon with the second chapter!!
> 
> -comments are welcomed and appreciated-
> 
> *V*


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> meet the band

Hyojong scrolled through his spotify playlists until he reached the one titled indie music, tapping into it and starting the shuffle before shoving the phone and both his hands into the pocket of his hoodie, careful to not tug out his earbuds. Hyojong spared half of his brain to listen to the music playing in his ears, allowing the other half to observe his surroundings and watch out for other people as he walked down the sidewalk.

Squinting his eyes he started across a street, the bright orange sun coming into view as it fell closer to the foundations of the city, relaxing his scrunched face once the glowing orb was once again hidden behind the buildings he was passing. The city was shining in the waning light of an early October day, windows facing the sun bound to have their shades drawn by now in an attempt of the people to not go blind.

It did not feel like October yet, and Hyojong took advantage of the decently warm weather by pairing tan shorts with his hoodie that was completely black save for the white hood and drawstrings. It was a satisfying outfit; his legs were a little cool with the soft breeze blowing between the buildings, but the rest of him was temperate and comfortable.

Hyojong didn’t mind walking to band practice on evenings like these. It was beautiful out, not yet dark, and the scenery was easy to enjoy. Sometimes he wished the distance wasn’t so short so he could see more of the city on his way, but in the winter he wished it was even shorter. Thankfully when he was looking for an apartment he took into account the location of his band’s practice studio, which ended up being a bigger factor in his decision then he anticipated. Perhaps it was the moderate price and satisfactory quality of the apartment, or maybe it really was the manageable walking distances to the studio and his university. Whatever it was, Hyojong and his roommate found their choice very rewarding and Hyojong didn’t see himself moving anytime soon.

Hyojong bobbed his head and stepped in time to the song pumping into his ears. He liked to listen to music on his way to practice, especially these indie type of songs, just to try and inspire him. He took in the music and scenery as much as possible, hoping some kind of spark would go off in his brain for a new song he could write for the band, but nothing mind-blowing seemed to come his way.

A few songs later and Hyojong was turning down a small alleyway off of the practically empty street and walked a few feet before heaving open a stubborn metal door and stepping into the building.

Several years ago in the summer before his second year of high school Hyojong and his closest friends had the idea to form themselves into a band. After all, the reason they had bonded over the years had been because they had all begun to learn various instruments. At first they just used “band practice” as an excuse to hang out after school, since only a couple of them thought it would actually work. They didn’t even agree on a name. But weeks of weekend practices turned to a few months, then another year passed by and by the summer before their final year of high school they had been asked to play at a couple parties. And their band, soon to be named Cosmos, had been thoroughly created.

By then everyone was on board full time, giving their all to practicing and learning songs. They did cover some songs, just to please the crowds of high schoolers, but Hyojong devoted himself as the designated song writer, since he only contributed his voice to the sound of the band rather than an instrument. And it wasn’t even all the time; he only raps, which wasn’t incorporated into every song anyways. So he dedicated most of his time, while the band was rehearsing, to creating new melodies and having moments of lyrical genius to earn his keep.

The problem of finding a place to practice had come along as the band’s activity increased. One of Hyojong’s fellow bandmates Jo Jinho had gotten permission from his parents to set up in their basement and practice when they first started getting serious. Though once the boys started to practice more often than one day a week and got louder every time, Jinho’s parents insisted they found somewhere else. It was rough going for the boys over the next week without anywhere to practice and they thought they’d never be able to play again.

Though it all changed when the guitarist for the band, Kang Hyunggu, came hurrying into the cafeteria one day with an ecstatic smile on his face and told the group he found a practice space for them. After urging him on Hyunggu went on to tell that his dance instructor named Eun Jiwon had a large basement under his studio that Hyunggu never knew about. Jiwon said he only uses a couple of the smaller rooms and has a large area that’s sitting empty as a result. Since Hyunggu had been attending dance classes with him for so many years and has proven to be very trustworthy, with great potential in guitar, he would allow the band to practice in his extra space.

The group of friends had cheered then and there, getting confused and annoyed looks from fellow classmates, though they couldn’t care less. Cosmos was back in business and ready to rock.

They had to work it out with Jiwon first, in things like where exactly they could put their stuff, and when they could practice. The boys ended up being allowed to leave their instruments at the studio if they wanted, since Jiwon always locked the building up. The one condition was for practicing, it being they couldn’t do it during the day. They could be there if they desired to be, but they couldn’t practice, since Jiwon had dance classes until approximately 5:30 every week day. It ended up being more convenient in the evening anyway, since they had school during the day for one, and plus most of the surrounding businesses would be closed by the time they got to practicing, so there was only a slim chance of getting a noise complaint.

So that’s where Hyojong was headed now, several years later, to the same studio they scored way back when. Lugging open a practically never-before-used backdoor to Jiwon’s studio. By using this door the band members were able to make it to the basement without having to go through the dance studio, in case there were some dancers that Jiwon allowed to stay and practice a little later.

Upon opening the door Hyojong paused his music, pulled out his earbuds and shoved them and his phone into the bag hanging at his hip before stepping into a small room that only had descending stairs and another door. The only sounds he could hear were coming from downstairs, which was unusual.

Being curious and slightly confused, Hyojong passed the stairs and opened up the door, peeking into one of the dance studio’s hallways. All he could see was dark, abandoned rooms, silent as a house in the middle of night. It almost gave Hyojong the creeps, though he wasn’t one to get scared easily. Usually there were dancers still practicing after the end of class, or younger students waiting for their parents to pick them up. But there wasn’t a soul in sight. Hyojong shut the door quickly.

He proceeded to descend the stairs, his harsh steps echoing against the compact walls of the stairwell. When he hit the floor he headed further into the lit up basement, but paused at a doorway he noticed was cracked open. Hyojong glanced through the opening to see Jiwon busy at work, rifling through and seemingly sorting papers all across the surface of his desk. Jiwon’s eyebrows were lowered, his eyes squinting through his black rimmed glasses, running his hand over and over again through his spiky black hair. Hyojong couldn’t tell if he was stressed or just really focused.

Pushing the door open some more Hyojong took a step inside. “Hi Mr. Eun,” he called. Hyojong always made a habit of saying hello to the dance instructor if he was still around when he arrived.

Without looking up Jiwon said, “Hyojong, I told you to just call me Jiwon. I’ve known you long enough that I’m ok with it.”

“Yeah I know, but Mr. Eun is more fun,” he replied with a growing smirk. Jiwon shook his head slightly before looking up at the boy, Hyojong catching the flash of a smile.

“Just get on to practice already, before I kick you out,” Jiwon sighed, still smiling slightly and going back to his papers.

“If you wanted to kick me out wouldn’t you have done it already?” Hyojong countered smugly. The corner of Jiwon’s mouth twitched.

“Do you want to find out?” he mumbled, raising only his eyes to stare at Hyojong over the rim of his glasses.

Hyojong sidestepped out of the doorway, calling out “Not particularly!” to Jiwon as he hurried away. He heard faint chuckles from the office as he walked away and smiled to himself. Hyojong passed another doorway on his right that lead to a room that Jiwon sometimes used to plan out dances if he didn’t want to “ruin his studio’s perfect flooring” as he put it. There was a small bathroom after that, which the boys used occasionally, before Hyojong made it to their practice studio.

There was no door closing off their space, the long, narrow hallway leading straight into the band’s studio, taking up one of the corners. Hyojong strode through that small entrance, sweeping his eyes across the large square room to see who was making the small noises he heard when he came in.

Lounging on one of the various couches placed along the walls of the room was Hyunggu, lazily lying back against the cushions with his legs stretched out and crossed in front of him. He had his electric guitar, appropriately named Ruby for it’s black outlining and rich, dark red color, laying across his stomach. Hyunggu was focused on the song he was strumming, his downcast eyes hidden by his slightly overgrown shiny black bangs as his fingers plucked knowingly at the strings, the song flowing smoothly in perfect chords. Without missing a note Hyunggu glanced up at the sound of footsteps and met Hyojong’s eyes.

“Hey,” Hyunggu muttered quickly and turned his eyes back down to his guitar. Hyojong grinned at the short greeting he got, admiring his concentration.

In the opposite corner of the entrance sat the drumset, then to the left of that, out of the area the band designated for their practice area, was Cosmos’ bassist Adachi Yuto, opening up his case and taking out his sleek black bass. As he was carefully placing it on it’s stand he looked over his shoulder.

“Hey Hyojong,” Yuto said.

Yuto’s voice matched his instrument: low and rich. He was a quiet guy, very kept to himself with a mysterious aura, so he didn’t mind taking up the bass and not spending all his days in the limelight. If you saw Yuto a majority of the week, like Hyojong did, you’d see that most of his closet consisted of black clothing items; if Yuto’s hair was black, and not the chocolate brown color it was, Hyojong would have pegged Yuto as that emo, alternative kid in high school. And although Yuto prefers to back everyone up and keep the baseline going, Hyojong occasionally has asked him to rap a part, if he needs a lower sound to correspond with the vibe of the song, which Yuto’s voice was perfect for.

“Hey,” Hyojong replied, heading towards the left corner of the room where his desk resided. The surface was cluttered, so much so one could barely see the actual wooden surface. Hyojong wasn’t really sure what was there anymore; a mixture between random pieces of paper with possible lyric ideas, long lost school assignments, or anything else Hyojong or the other members just threw on top.

As he neared his designated area Hyojong lifted his bag off of his shoulder and over his head, sighing as the weight was finally taken from his shoulder. He dropped the bag in front of the desk before dropping himself onto the well-used loveseat that magically appeared one day in between the desk and Yuto’s bass stand.

“I really need to get a new backpack. One with two straps would be nice,” Hyojong mumbled, mostly to himself, but kind of hoping someone else would respond.

“You say that every time you come in here,” Yuto commented, taking the seat next to him. Hyojong looked at the bassist with a mildly insulted expression.

“I do not,” he argued.

“Yeah you do Hyojong,” came Hyunggu’s voice directly across the room. The man sighed.

“Whatever. It’s still true.”

“Then just get a new bag already,” Hyunggu sassed as he leaned forward, his fingers flying over the strings as he started to play what Hyojong figured was a guitar solo. The two bystanders watched in awe as Hyunggu shredded the notes, nailing every one until a finger slipped or a memory was forged incorrectly and a note that was obviously out of place rang through the room and made Hyojong’s eye twitch, though he tried not to show it too much and make Hyunggu upset. Though it seemed his attempts were futile. Hyunggu instantly stopped playing, dropping his guitar on the couch beside him rather carelessly with an aggressive, “Damn it!”

Hyojong watched him as he marched to the right most corner of the room which he claimed long ago as his, with his two guitar stands, his cases and where he put his stuff when he came to practice. Hyunggu ripped open his backpack, rummaging through it before pulling out his phone and earbuds and basically stomping back to the couch. He sat on the couch once more, face visibly neutral, though if you knew him as well as Hyojong did you would know really up close it was twisted and holding back more colorful words. He tapped around his phone for a moment before connecting the headphones, shoving the buds into his ears and picking his guitar back up again, resting it on his knee.

Once Hyunggu was basically deaf to the world, Hyojong turned to Yuto. “What’s up with him?”

Yuto was mostly straight faced, but the slight raise of one corner of his lips told Hyojong he was thinking something. “He was playing already when I got here. I asked him what it was and he said it was a solo he was writing.”

“He wrote that himself?” Hyojong asked, his eyebrows raising. “I would’ve thought it was a cover he was trying to learn.”

“I know right,” Yuto agreed. “He said that once he perfected it he hoped you would put it in one of our songs.”

Hyojong didn’t answer Yuto, he only looked to Hyunggu; eyebrows furrowed, staring at his fingers with his head bobbing as he internalized the melody he wanted to play so desperately.

“Hmm,” Hyojong hummed, crossing his legs as he watched Hyunggu practice. Yuto looked between the two for a moment before looking to Hyojong, his dark brown eyes widening.

“Are you actually gonna do it?” he questioned. Hyojong pursed his lips, a habit he developed over years of getting questions he didn’t quite know how to answer.

“Perhaps,” he vaguely replied. Hyojong started to wonder where the other band members were, patting around his pants for his phone to check the time, only to remember he put his phone in his bag. “Hey, what time is it?” Hyojong directed toward Yuto. The taller reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

“Almost six,” Yuto told before pocketing the device once more.

“I guess they’re not late then,” Hyojong mumbled, adjusting himself into a more comfortable position.

“No, though we don’t really have a set time for practice anyway,” Yuto commented. “We just say “after 5:30, around 6:00”. So we all just arrive randomly. Though you are later than usual Hyojong, so you can’t really say anything about them.”

“Hey, I’m here before 6 o’clock, so I’m still on time,” Hyojong argued while placing a hand on his chest matter-of-factly.

“But compared to when you usually arrive? You’re late. You’re usually the first one here,” Yuto mentioned. “Is there a reason?”

Hyojong hesitated for a moment, pursing his lips to buy time. There was no way in hell he was going to tell Yuto that he was late because he was sitting in the public library for a couple hours, waiting to see if a certain librarian just happened to be shelving books in his area. Absolutely no way.

“I was just,” he started, “a little busier than usual I guess.” Yuto looked at him, sensing slight suspicion, but let it go, not finding the information of utmost importance to him at this point.

The two sat in silence as they waited for the other boys, the only sound being Hyunggu’s guitar and the humming he did along with it. Thankfully they didn’t wait too long, as just a couple minutes later Jinho arrived with his roommate, Yang Hongseok, the drummer for the band. The two strolled down the hallway, talking softly as they did. When they entered they extended greetings to the three boys already seated around the room. Hyunggu had taken out his earbuds by then, saying hello to the boys when they arrived.

Hongseok flopped next to Hyunggu on the long couch with a loud sigh escaping him. He ran a hand through his shiny brown hair, messing up it’s perfect state. “Man I’m just _not_ feeling it today. Can we just hang out today? Not practice?”

“No no no, don’t even start that Hongseok,” Jinho scolded as he crossed the room. He moved to the right side of the playing area to where his keyboard stood, dropping his backpack behind it. “If you start talkin’ lazy that’s all you’re going to be. We need to practice today.”

“Why? We don’t have a gig for months,” Hongseok complained.

“We need to because on Saturday all we did was sit around and talk about playing. We didn’t actually do any playing,” Jinho reminded the lazy man.

“Jinho is right,” Hyunggu jumped in, sitting up slightly. “We meet three days a week, but if we don’t actually practice it’s like we’re not meeting at all.”

“Come on Hyunggu, you’re supposed to back me up,” Hongseok whined further. He lolled his head to the side and closed his eyes. “You guys practice, I’ll just lay here.”

“Hongseok, you’re the drummer, remember? Without you our band will just sound empty,” Hyojong said.

Hongseok groaned. “Does anyone want to trade instruments?” he asked desperately. The other members just laughed off the drummer’s comment while Hongseok tried to reason with them that he was being serious, though no one believed him.

The five boys sat around for a while then, simply talking and getting their instruments set up and ready for practice. Hyojong had finally heaved himself up and stationed himself on the swivel chair at his desk, pulling out his laptop from his bag and attempting to organize some of the mess around him.

It wasn’t until about 15 minutes later that the last member showed up. Hyojong was looking through a stack of papers when he heard slow incoming footsteps and looked up to see Yanan, the main singer for Cosmos, entering from the hallway. Hyojong gave a small smile, prepared to greet the man when he noticed how he looked. Yanan was a man that always seemed to have a soft smile on his face and confident strides with his long legs, but today he wasn’t any of it. His black hair was shaggy and a total mess, his face droopy, eyebrows knit together and his shoes seemed to just slap against the floor. It was obvious something was up.

“Hey Yanan,” Hyojong called as the man entered. Yanan looked up at him and tilted his head back in acknowledgement before sliding to the third couch in the room, placed along the wall to the left of Hyojong’s desk, and dropping to the cushions. It seemed Hongseok wasn’t the only one that was feeling lazy. “What’s up? You seem down.”

Yanan shook his head. “Not necessarily down. Just tired.”

“How much sleep did you get?” Jinho asked, perched on the stool behind his keyboard.

“Not enough,” Yanan sighed. Before anyone else could ask him something Yanan added, “I had a ton of long assignments I had to work on and was up late because of it.”

“See? I’m not the only one who’s tired. We should just relax,” Hongseok spoke up, once again trying his hand at the possibility of no practice. As Jinho started to argue with him again Hyojong got Yanan’s attention.

“You can pull up a chair so you don’t have to stand, but we really do need to practice tonight,” Hyojong said encouragingly. Yanan nodded and agreed with him, saying he’d do so.

So practice officially commenced, all the members finally melding into one group and setting up in their practice area to play. Yanan pulled up a chair from the small square table that was set up to the right of Hyunggu’s guitar stands and placed it in front of Hongseok’s drums, sitting down but keeping a straight posture so he could still sing well. Yuto and Hyunggu finished tuning their instruments while the other two instrumentalists were mindlessly messing around with theirs, Yanan occasionally reaching over and tapping one of the cymbals on Hongseok’s set, upsetting the man a little more each time.

Before Hongseok could get completely obsessive and slap Yanan’s hand, Hyojong slid across the hardwood floors on his chair, stopping near Yuto and glanced at everyone.

“Are you guys ready?” he asked the group, waiting till he got confirmation from each member. “Alright. Let’s start then.”

Practice ran relatively smooth from that point on, with only a couple minor mess ups every so often that they breezed past but would go back to when the song was finished. Except, Yanan’s supposed exhaustion crept not just into his actions but to how he performed. He didn’t mess up only a couple times overall, but a couple times each song. Yanan would apologize every time, whether they stopped to regroup or not, rub his face and try to come back in. He kept forgetting lyrics and singing notes too flat and taking high notes down the octave, which sometimes messed up the other members.

Hyojong knew the others were thinking the same thing, but he didn’t know if he should bring it up. Thankfully he didn’t have to, since at the next pause they made Yuto spoke up.

“Hey, Yanan, are you ok?” Yuto asked, his eyebrows raised with concern ever so slightly. In response to the question Yanan rubbed his hands over his face with both hands then held his hanging head. “I know you said you didn’t get much sleep, but…you forgot almost all of a song we have known for years. It just seems like something else is going on. Are you-”

“I’m fine, guys, ok? I’m fine!” Yanan suddenly snapped, throwing his arms down. Everyone fell silent with Yanan’s outburst, warily watching the tall boy to see what would happen next. Yanan sighed after looking around at his bandmates and stood up, turning so he could see everyone. “I’m sorry you guys. I don’t…really know why I’m messing up so much. But I shouldn’t have shouted, you didn’t do anything and it’s not fair to you all. If you wouldn’t mind, could I take a few minutes, just step outside for some air? To try and clear my head.”

“Yeah of course Yanan, take your time,” Hyojong granted. The others nodded along as well, giving their best smiles to the troubled man.

Yanan sighed again. “Thanks guys. I’ll be right back.” And with that he was heading back upstairs, dragging his feet along.

It wasn’t until they heard the heavy door shut that it seemed the tension that had built up like snowbanks in the dead of winter had finally melted.

“Well…” Hongseok mumbled, but didn’t continue his thought.

“Yeah,” Hyunggu finished for him.

“Does anyone know what’s going on with him?” Jinho finally voiced. No one answered right away, the answer not being clear to any one of them.

“No idea,” Hyojong spoke up. “I mean, the strangest thing that I’ve noticed before this is that I was going to hang out with Yanan about a week ago and when I suggested I went to his house he immediately said it wasn’t a good idea. And Yanan never turns down the idea of going to his place.”

“You know, I would say that’s too random, but I had the same thing happen to me,” Yuto admitted. “He wanted to get together with me but insisted we went out or to my apartment.”

“Maybe something is wrong with his place?” Hyunggu suggested. “A big repair? Or it’s just so messy that he’s embarrassed.”

“I feel like he’d say so if those were either of the cases. Don’t you think?” Hyojong countered. Hyunggu hummed in agreement, his eyebrows furrowing as he tried to figure out what was going on. A silence settled around the group then, concern and confusion for their friend weaving in figure eights around them.

“He’ll tell us eventually, I’d like to think,” Hyojong muttered. “Just let him get comfortable enough to come to us when he’s ready. Ok guys?”

Everyone nodded at Hyojong’s words, turning their attention to their instruments to mess around with while they waited. Hyojong rolled back over to his desk, clicking around on his laptop as he listened to the random sounds behind him, finding that focusing was rather hard when his mind was full of concern for another person’s problem that he might not even be able to help with.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love the members of pentagon so much, i can't wait to write more scenes with them <3
> 
> thank you for reading! i hope you enjoyed it!!
> 
> p.s. i came up with the name Cosmos for the band before they even announced their debut in Japan, i swear!
> 
> -comments are welcomed and appreciated-
> 
> *V*


	3. Chapter 3

A soft melody was floating around in his head, lulling him yet prodding at his tired mind. Hyojong listened to the song get steadily louder, figuring it was in his dream. It wasn’t until he opened his eyes unconsciously that he realized it was his alarm.

Hyojong was lying on his stomach, half awake as his phone continued producing his alarm. As his body awakened he felt the heaviness of his arm hanging over the edge of his mattress and he sat up, peering down to the ground with squinted eyes to see his psychology textbook lying open on the carpet. The book itself was a clear indicator of what he fell asleep doing.

Hyojong made some incoherent noise as he tried to roll over, tangling his legs within the sheets of his bed even more than they already were. Propping himself up on an elbow he tiredly searched in the waves of blankets for his phone which had become lost at sea while he slept. Using the sound still playing as a guide he located his phone, turning off the alarm and flopping back onto the bed. It usually takes a few minutes for Hyojong’s body to wake up and allow him to move, so he remained still for the moment and stared up at his ceiling, light from the window behind him shining in a big yellow rectangle on the white surface.

After some time - a length that Hyojong wouldn’t admit - he rolled on his side and squinted at the digital clock on the bedside table. He realized that by the time he got up, ready, and started his walk to campus, he was going to be late. Cursing loudly he flung the sheets off himself and stumbled out of bed. Hyojong hurried around his room and blindly pulled on jeans and a white long sleeve with words he didn’t have the time to read. He took a second to make his hair look like he didn’t just walk out the door after waking up, then another to shove all his stuff in his bag.

Hyojong hurried out of his room, hurrying some more to the front door of his apartment, grabbing his jacket and tugging it on after glancing out the window and seeing gray clouds covering the sky. He paused for a minute, listening into the apartment but not hearing any other sounds.

“He must have left,” Hyojong mumbled to himself.

Shrugging Hyojong dove his feet into a pair of beaten up tennis shoes and dropped his bag over his head and onto his shoulder. He plucked his keys from the small hook nearby the door and flung open the wooden barrier before shutting it behind himself. After remembering to lock it Hyojong proceeded to race down the hallway, favoring the stairs in the fast-paced situation.

Hyojong shoved open the glass doors to his apartment building, continuing to run down the small side street his apartment building was located on until he reached a busier road. He slowed his pace till he was walking in determined strides, so as not to accidentally run into one of the other people crowding the sidewalks. A few stressful minutes later and Hyojong turned into a coffee shop, almost instinctively, and strode to one end of the long island.

“Changgu!” Hyojong called breathlessly. An employee that was organizing mugs at the counter behind the island turned his head to Hyojong.

Changgu, Hyojong’s roommate and co-worker, smiled at the man upon recognizing him. Changgu’s smile was wide and soft and could woo nearly any person he so directed it towards. If Hyojong wasn’t in such a rush and had a moment to breathe he probably would have smiled back.

“Hi Hyojong,” Changgu greeted, turning to face his friend. Hyojong tried his best to express what he needed with the breath he had left.

“Late…slept in…need…”

“Coffee?” Changgu finished, eyebrows raising over round brown eyes. Hyojong nodded helplessly. Changgu chuckled slightly. “The usual?” he asked.

Hyojong nodded again and said, “But with more espresso.”

“Ooooh, how come? Rough practice last night?” Changgu questions as he turns to a coffee machine and begins the brew. “You got home later than usual.”

Hyojong sighed and relayed the stress Yanan had been emanating the night before. Changgu nodded along to Hyojong’s words, glancing over his shoulder periodically. As Hyojong was talking a few people glanced curiously at the scene, wondering why Hyojong was practically behind the counter and getting coffee made without ordering. Though none of the other employees spared more than a brief glance, recognizing Hyojong since he worked in this cafe as well.

“The rest of practice went great though. Once Yanan came back inside he sang just fine and we got a lot done. It was a lot of fun too,” Hyojong concluded, resting his forearms on the countertop.

“Well that’s good to hear,” Changgu said with a small smile. As the machine elegantly poured the freshly brewed coffee into the mug below it Changgu moved around Hyojong and the counter to a nearby table, cleaning it up after a previous customer. As Changgu lifted the mug he noticed a small folded piece of paper that was hidden beneath it.

“What’s this?” Changgu mumbled and placed the cup on the plate he held, picking up the paper. He stared at it with a confused expression as he walked back behind the counter. Hyojong raised his eyebrows and watched Changgu place the dishes down and slowly unfold the paper, leaning in to see himself. When the paper was opened Hyojong saw there were numbers written neatly across the scrap of paper with a girl’s name underneath.

“Another number?” Hyojong exclaimed. “Man, how many is that now?”

“I don’t know,” Changgu mumbled, a sigh mixing with his words. Changgu had this “problem” as he refers to it, that every so often when he cleans up the dishes of a woman he served, he will find little notes, typically with their phone numbers scribbled upon them. Hyojong told his fellow band members and they all agreed in saying it was a blessing, while Changgu couldn’t physically disagree more.

Changgu promptly crumpled up the paper and threw it in a nearby trash can. Hyojong gaped at him. “You could at least text her!” he fruitlessly suggested.

“I don’t even remember her. I have no idea who she is,” Changgu muttered, turning back to the freshly poured coffee.

“Or you could try and find her on social media? She left her name,” Hyojong tried. Changgu only shook his head.

“I’m not interested,” he finalized. Hyojong sighed, giving up on his suddenly stubborn friend. He watched the barista as he mixed in some creamer and a couple extra shots of espresso. Changgu pressed a cap onto the to-go cup and handed it off. In return Hyojong handed Changgu the exact amount of money needed. Changgu counted the money and grinned at Hyojong.

“Gotten this particular cup of coffee before, have we?” Changgu lightly teased. Hyojong took a sip of the steaming beverage and smirked.

“You know me Changgu, I can’t survive a day without coffee.” Changgu laughed but still agreed. “Well if I wasn’t late before, I am now. Thanks, I’ll see you later!” Hyojong called as he rushed out of the cafe. Changgu yelled something as Hyojong was pushing open the door, the little bell above the entrance ringing in Hyojong’s head as he walked quickly to his destination.

Any memory of the warmth from yesterday was completely wiped out of Hyojong’s mind as he made his way through the gray, windy streets, feeling the cold brush on every inch of his open skin. He shivered and bent his shoulders in to try and preserve any warmth left within him, taking sips of his coffee to try and help in the process.

As expected Hyojong was considerably late, though not as late as he expected given the fact that when he reached campus he tossed his empty coffee cup into a public trash can and didn’t stop running until he was standing in front of the lecture hall’s door. He opened the door, hoping his face looked mournful as he apologized to the professor, who stopped mid-explanation when his door had been opened. Hyojong’s eyes scanned quickly around the room, seeing every face turned toward him except one that was planted in the owner’s palm. And there was his friend.

Hyojong said another apology to the professor and quickly made his way up a few levels of the classroom, ignoring the teacher’s molten stare burning the tips of his hair. The professor cleared his throat and continued with an obviously annoyed tone. Hyojong carefully passed behind a couple occupied chairs before reaching the empty seat saved for him.

Bless Hongseok’s heart.

As silently as possible he sat down, took off his backpack and jacket and got out a notebook, preparing to take the best notes of his life.

Once the professor began raving about neuron transmissions in the brain and other things he would ultimately have to look up later on, Hyojong felt something bump his elbow. Now that other students were relaxed again and whispering among themselves, Hyojong wasn’t as scared to look over at Hongseok, who had slid his arm closer to Hyojong.

“Dude, if looks could kill, you wouldn’t have even made it to the first row,” Hongseok whispered to his friend.

“I know,” Hyojong sighed, equally as quiet.

“Why were you so late?” The question wasn’t a surprise to Hyojong, he just didn’t exactly know how to answer it. There were several reasons he could mention but they were all old and abused by this point.

So instead he mumbled, “I wasn’t that late.” Hyojong glanced back to the front, making sure the professor was still rambling on and not glaring in his general direction. When he turned his head he was met with an _Are you serious?_ look from Hongseok. Hyojong shrugged with a careless expression and any remark Hongseok might’ve had was cut off by the teacher telling his class to quiet down.

The class flew by from Hyojong’s perspective. He was attentive for the first few minutes but then his mind started wandering and tuning out his professors droning speeches. He was practically skipping the class by the time he pulled out a sheet of paper with several music staffs printed upon it and slowly started writing notes to a new melody that kept playing in his ears. He wasn’t sure if the notes were quite right but he made his best guess. He was also ignoring the eye rolls and elbow bumps from Hongseok, knowing he’d get yelled at by him after class but focusing on the new song anyways.

“Alright, that’s it for today. Class dismissed,” the professor announced and sat behind his desk. Chatter rose from the students as they packed up their belongings and hurried out of the room. Hyojong shoved his stuff into his bag and stood up, following the line of people out of his row with Hongseok right behind him.

“So how much do you remember?” Hongseok asked his friend as they stepped down the rows of the lecture hall.

“Uhh…”

“That’s what I thought.” The two exited the room and made their slow way down the hall. “You really should try to pay attention Hyojong. There’s only been about a month of school. You can still make good study habits,” Hongseok said, hoping he could finally get through to the man’s brain.

“But biology isn’t even necessary for my major. It’s pointless!” Hyojong argued. The two stopped walking when they reached a point where the hallway split two ways, stepping to the side so they weren’t blocking people’s paths.

“But if you want to graduate at the end of the next school year you have to pass this class,” Hongseok said. Hyojong sighed.

“I know.” Hyojong’s shoulders drooped as well as his head. Hongseok let a grin slip over his face.

“I can text you my notes from today if you want,” he suggested. Hyojong’s eyes lit up with hope. “But this will be one of the last times, alright? You have to start taking them yourself.”

“I will! At least, I’ll actually try for once,” Hyojong admitted. Hongseok put a hand on the other’s shoulder.

“Baby steps,” he said and the two laughed.

“Hey guys!” a familiar voice called. Hyojong looked around Hongseok to see Hyunggu wave for a moment as he walked up and joined their little group. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, just Hyojong’s inability to pay attention in class,” Hongseok said, smile growing as he razzed his friend. Hyojong tried to defend himself as his friends simply laughed.

Hongseok suddenly pulled out his phone, eyebrows raising before he quickly pocketed it again. “I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you guys later.”

“You sure you can’t join us for lunch?” Hyunggu asked.

Hongseok shook his head. “I’ve got work soon. Some other time for sure though.”

“Well alright.”

“See ya!” Hongseok called and turned away.

The two remaining said their goodbyes and headed the opposite way. As they were walking they ended up talking about their band and possible music ideas they had thought of since they saw each other the night before.

“Oh hey, during class I zoned out and actually started coming up with a new melody,” Hyojong said, suddenly remembering the stroke of genius he had not too long ago. He fiddled with the bag on his right hip, opening the flap and pulling out the notebook he had stuffed the papers into. He stuck his finger between the pages of the notebook right where the music sheets were sticking out and flipped it open.

“Do you carry music sheets around with you everywhere?” Hyunggu teased.

“Pretty much. You never know when random notes in your head can suddenly become a song,” Hyojong explained. He held the notebook on his open palm and grabbed the music sheet on top that had some badly written music notes drawn over the staffs. Hyojong was joking about how this sheet had been the last blank one he had, showing Hyunggu the sheets that had similar scribbles to the one he held. Hyojong was one second from closing the notebook when someone ran into his back, causing him to stumble forward and bump the notebook from his hands and send the papers sailing away on a nonexistent breeze. The only reason Hyojong knew it was a person and not some large inanimate object was because an audible “Oof!” was heard when they ran into him.

Thankfully Hyojong was able to keep his balance and not fall onto the ground, unlike his belongings that he was previously holding. He looked over the floor at his papers that flew and scattered then down at the notebook that had landed with a smack at his feet. Neither Hyojong or Hyunggu made any move to pick up the papers, both boys simply staring at the mess before them.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” came a sudden voice. Hyojong was startled by someone passing closely by his side and then dropping onto the floor in front of him. When he glanced down he saw the short, wavy brown hair of a man currently picking up his music sheets.

That got Hyojong out of his trance. He dropped onto one knee, flipping his notebook over and looking up at the person scrambling to pick up sheets. The man was grabbing the seemingly endless sheets of paper so fast Hyojong thought he would give himself a paper cut.

“Hey, slow down,” he spoke up. The man suddenly stopped and looked up at him, his soft brown eyes wide with evident nervousness. “I’m not mad.”

“You aren’t?” the man asked. The way this person was acting reminded Hyojong of dealing with a child, but his looks contradicted his behavior, giving Hyojong the impression that they might be the same age.

“No. It was an accident,” Hyojong said. The man’s shoulders slumped and his paper-filled hands dropped onto his lap.

“I’m sorry,” the man said again. “I wasn’t paying attention. I was looking elsewhere when I should have been looking where I was running.”

“It’s fine, really,” Hyojong reassured the man, grinning slightly. Hyojong got a small smile in response, watching the man visibly relax at his words.

The two resumed collecting the dropped papers. As they did so Hyojong noticed the man studying the papers as he picked them up. He was about to ask what was so interesting about them when the man beat him to it.

“Are you a songwriter?” the man asked, his faintly puffy lips pulled into a small, curious smile.

Hyojong blinked and said, “Uh, yeah. I am.”

“So you created all these?” The man indicated all the pages they were picking up. Hyojong nodded in response and the man’s smile grew. The man grabbed the last paper from the tiled floor and the two stood up. As the man got off the floor he said, “That’s really cool. Are you a music major?”

Hyojong was a little taken aback by all the stranger’s questions, but nonetheless answered, “Yeah I am.”

Noticing Hyojong’s confused expression the man said, “I’m in music as well, that’s why I’m asking.” Hyojong’s eyebrows rose and he hummed in acknowledgment. “What specifically are you studying?” the man asked and straightened out the papers he still held, handing them back to their owner.

Hyojong took them and added them to the stack. “Music production,” he answered, slightly raising the stack of music sheets with a grin.

“Right, of course,” the man said with a chuckle.

Hyojong was about to ask the man what he was studying when somewhere down the hall someone called, “Hwitaek!” causing the man in front of Hyojong to look over his shoulder. “What are you doing? You comin’?”

“Yeah! Just a sec!” the man answered and faced Hyojong again. “Again, sorry about running into you.”

“No problem, really. Thanks for picking most of it up,” Hyojong responded.

“Of course,” the man said. “Have a good day!”

“You too.” The man smiled at Hyojong, then at Hyunggu for a moment before turning and hurrying down the hall.

When the man had turned the corner Hyunggu mumbled, “What a weird guy.”

Hyojong rolled his eyes at his friend. “Well at least he helped pick stuff up. Unlike some people.” Hyunggu looked at Hyojong’s raised eyebrows and put his hands up in defense.

“Hey, you two had it covered. I didn’t wanna mess with your system.”

“And you’re saying he was weird.”

 

-

 

“Ugh. Now my papers are all messed up.”

“They seemed pretty messed up already.”

Hyojong glared at Hyunggu before looking back to the table. The two had just ordered food at an old fashioned diner they frequently visit, Hyojong having cleared the table once the waitress had left and plopped his notebook down in front of him. Hyunggu sat with his arms crossed, watching his friend with a cocked eyebrow as he spread his music sheets over the surface of the table.

“They got all mixed up and now I don’t know which one is the one I was working on,” Hyojong complained, dropping the papers he was holding and sinking into the ripped leather booth.

“Do you not label what each one is?” Hyunggu questioned. “Like, title it with the name of the song or something like that?”

Hyojong was about to shake his head when he suddenly slapped the side of it instead, sitting up and grabbing some papers. He grinned widely. “I put the date on them,” he stated, directing his smile up at his friend. “I put the date of when I start writing it in one of the corners. But I forgot to put today’s date on the one I started. So the one without a date is the new one. Ha! Genius.”

“Yeah, genius,” Hyunggu mumbled but Hyojong ignored him, hurriedly throwing papers around and looking for the one with a blank corner. Eventually Hyojong found it, fist pumping for himself before gathering the rest of the sheets and stuffing them into his bag.

“Wanna look?” Hyojong offered. Hyunggu nodded and was handed the piece of paper. He studied the scattered notes Hyojong had written across the staffs, trying his best to hear them in his head. When he thought he had gotten the melody down he pursed his lips, nodding as he handed the paper back to his friend. Hyojong looked at him with wide eyes, awaiting an answer.

“Well, I don’t know if I got the notes right in my head, but that’s a good start,” Hyunggu said. “What is it? Instrument or vocals?”

“I was thinking vocal.” Hyojong delicately filed it back into the mess of his backpack. “I was gonna show it to Yanan tomorrow at practice.”

They continued to talk about music and Hyunggu finally got the guts to bring up the solo he’d been working on; the one Yuto had mentioned the day before. Hyojong heard him out, the younger seeming quite nervous about this subject. When he had finished speaking Hyojong calmed him down before saying that what he heard yesterday was impressive and he thought they should definitely incorporate it into a song. Hyunggu visibly relaxed when he heard that, letting a long breath of air flow out of him as he ran a hand through the black strands on his head.

Not long after the food arrived, Hyojong’s stomach growling lowly when his plate was placed in front of him and he swallowed a big gulp of nothing.

“I guess I have good timing,” said the waitress, a nice old lady with a messy bun and stained apron. She gave the two a kind smile, Hyojong reciprocating it.

“Yeah you do,” he replied.

“Well, enjoy,” the waitress said before going back behind the counter.

“Did you not eat again this morning?” Hyunggu asked, preparing to bite into his burger.

“Nope. I woke up late. I’m pretty sure my professor wanted to strangle me when I walked in,” Hyojong said.

Hyunggu didn’t say anything, only shook his head, allowing the boys to dig into their food.

 

-

 

Hyojong groaned, earning a sigh from his friend.

“What’s wrong with you? You’ve been complaining non-stop since we left the restaurant,” Hyunggu finally questioned.

“I think I ate too fast,” Hyojong mumbled, rubbing his stomach comfortingly.

“You could say that. You practically inhaled your food.” Hyojong groaned again. Then Hyunggu asked, “Could you remind me why we’re going to the public library? We could just go to the one on campus since we have class in a few hours.”

“I found this great place in the public library the other day that no one goes to,” Hyojong explained, failing to mention he didn’t necessarily find it himself, but he didn’t think Hyunggu really needed to know that. “I thought it would be a good place to study. Is it that inconvenient?”

“No,” Hyunggu muttered and shoved his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. “Just curious I guess.”

The two continued down the busy streets, watching people rush back to school and places of business after the lunch hour. Hyunggu was texting someone as they were walking, expertly dodging other people hurrying down the sidewalk. Though Hyojong had to grab his hood and tug him back so he didn’t walk into the street where traffic was speeding by.

Hyojong led his friend up the wide stone steps leading into the looming building before them. Hyunggu stared up at the large structure like a kid looking at the top of a rollercoaster they were about to ride on.

“When was the last time you came to this library?” Hyojong couldn’t help but ask when he noticed Hyunggu’s expression. Hyunggu glanced at the man and cleared his throat.

“It’s been a while,” he muttered nonchalantly. Hyojong’s shoulders bounced with a silent laugh as they reached the top and pushed open one of the doors.

Hyojong walked confidently into the library, Hyunggu discreetly glancing around at the seemingly endless shelves of books and the people scattered throughout the building.

“This way,” Hyojong said quietly. “It’s in the back.”

The boys stepped softly across the tiles before their feet met the hard, overused gray carpet. Hyojong couldn’t help his eyes from wandering to the checkout counters. He had done it every time he’d entered the library for so long it was nearly impulse. When he looked over he never knew what, or more importantly who he would see. Despite the rocky start to his morning his day seemed to be looking up when he saw the slightly frizzy dark brown hair of the librarian. Her hair was down today, swishing and bouncing around her shoulders as she moved around the desk she occupied.

Hyojong looked away, not wanting Hyunggu or the librarian to notice him staring, but he couldn’t help but look back moments later. To his surprise, he found the girl already looking at him and the two made eye contact. The girl smiled then and Hyojong knew she had recognized him from her expression. Hyojong smiled back, nothing more, and the girl looked back to the stack of books beside her and Hyojong continued walking with Hyunggu as they passed the counters and silently made their way to the back of the library.

It seemed Hyunggu hadn’t noticed anything. He didn’t look at Hyojong weirdly or ask him any persistent questions about who the girl was. Which was a good thing, since Hyojong wasn’t sure how he would answer a question like that.

The two boys weaved through the library bookshelves towards the corner of the building until the large windows came into view. Hyojong headed right to a table while Hyunggu slowed his steps and admired the view, then the small hidden area his friend found.

“This is pretty nice,” Hyunggu agreed. Hyojong claimed one of the tables, sliding his backpack across the wooden surface.

“I know. It's rare that anyone comes back here,” Hyojong said as he took a seat. He started taking out books and papers, noticing Hyunggu had moved closer to the window rather than the desk, staring out at the city almost in a trance. “Would you stop gawking and get over here? We have to study for a test, remember?”

Hyunggu was brought back to earth and hurried over to the table, slipping off his backpack and getting out his own stuff. “Right, of course. I forgot you needed my help,” Hyunggu teased, smirking at his friend. Hyojong punched his friend’s arm but didn’t say anything, since Hyunggu was absolutely right.

“Whatever,” Hyojong grumbled. “Let’s just get to work.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's been so long since i uploaded, sorry ya'll~
> 
> but i hope you enjoyed this chapter! thank you for reading!!
> 
> -comments are welcomed and appreciated-
> 
> *V*


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yanan <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't remember if I've mentioned this, but their ages are slightly different in this fic. they're all pretty much the same age except jinho and hwitaek are a year older and hyunggu is younger than wooseok. it's just what I thought worked best :) enjoy the chapter!

“Have a good night boys,” Jiwon called as he shut the door to his basement office. The random sounds from the band’s instruments suddenly stopped and was replaced with shouts of goodbyes and good nights. Jiwon stepped up to the entrance of the practice room momentarily and waved before heading up the stairs and leaving the studio.

Once they heard the door slam the musical sounds resumed. Everyone was there already except Yanan, who was even later than the other day, with one addition of Yuto’s friend, Jung Wooseok, the band’s self-claimed “biggest fan” who attends almost every gig and occasionally a practice. Yuto and Wooseok had been best friends since they were kids and when Yuto had begun to become friends with his future bandmates Wooseok became friendly with them as well. Though when the idea of creating a band started to become a reality Wooseok stepped back a bit, not personally being very musical in the way the group needed. Wooseok genuinely enjoyed the group’s music and proclaimed himself their biggest fan right from the beginning. The nine boys became a very tight-knit group of friends that worked really well together, but always managed to make it fun.

Wooseok was lounged on a bean bag he found from an unknown place, his long legs stretched out across the oriental style rug in the middle of the room. The square, colorful rug had just appeared in their practice room one day, Jinho admitting he had brought it but refusing to say where he got it.

Yuto glanced up from tuning his bass, giving his friend a weird look. “Where did you find the bean bag Wooseok?” he asked.

“Is it not any of yours?” Wooseok asked, now just as confused as Yuto. The other boys looked to the middle of the room, all of them joining in on the confusion. No one knew where the bean bag had come from, no one admitting to bringing it in.

“Where did you find it?” Hongseok asked.

“In the storage room by Jiwon’s office,” Wooseok said. The man suddenly sat up, eyes wide. “Should I not have gone in there?”

“I think it’s fine. If it had been his office…” Jinho said, shaking his head and leaving his sentence unfinished and making everyone in the room shudder.

“Why did you go in there in the first place?” Yuto asked.

“I was originally going to the bathroom, but I barely got any sleep last night so I got confused to which door it was. So it wasn’t until I walked into the room that I realized I wasn’t in the bathroom.” The band members couldn’t help but laugh upon hearing the incident, Wooseok sinking further into his bean bag. He continued, “But when I turned on the light I saw two bean bags, so I took one.”

“Well then, did you make it to the bathroom Wooseok?” Yuto asked. Wooseok furrowed his eyebrows.

“Actually…” the man mumbled but trailed off before suddenly scrambling to his feet and running out of the room. The boys laughed again when they heard a door slam, but Hyojong suddenly stopped when he registered what Wooseok had said.

“Wait, did he say there were two?” Hyojong said. Hyunggu heard him and met Hyojong’s eyes before setting his guitar on the couch and hurrying to the hallway. Hyojong got up from his desk and followed Hyunggu to the hallway, standing behind him as the boy hesitantly opened the door to the storage room and turned on the small hanging light. The bulb flickered for a moment before giving off a soft yellow glow.

“Creepy,” Hyunggu mumbled, Hyojong silently agreeing.

The room was small and covered corner to corner by wooden shelves. Most of the shelves had boxes stuffed with papers placed upon them. The looked like makeshift filing cabinets.

The two boys looked around the room for a moment, neither having been in the storage room before. Hyunggu then remembered why he had gone into the room and his eyes went down, crying out with excitement when he saw a dark blue bean bag sitting in the middle of the room. Hyojong jumped when Hyunggu screeched, placing a hand on his chest and looking to what the younger had found.

“There is another one!” Hyunggu yelled so the men in the other room could hear him. The boy hurried forward and bundled the bag into his arms, turning to Hyojong with a wide smile.

“You’re seriously like a kid,” Hyojong commented.

“I don’t care. I love bean bags,” Hyunggu said. “They’re super comfortable and you can put them anywhere.”

Hyojong shook his head with a grin. “How do you know we are even allowed to be using these?”

Hyunggu’s smile fell and his shoulders drooped, giving Hyojong his best sad puppy dog eyes. Hyojong stared back at him for a moment before releasing a sigh. “I’ll talk to Jiwon,” he said. Hyunggu cheered, hurrying past Hyojong and into the hallway, meeting Wooseok as he came out of the bathroom and showing him what he’d found.

Hyojong stayed in the storage room and pulled his phone out of his pocket, opening it up and scrolling to Jiwon’s number and calling him. It rang a few times before the line was picked up.

 _“What happened?”_ Jiwon asked when he answered the call.

“Hey, why do you immediately think something happened?” Hyojong asked defensively.

 _“I never know what to expect with you boys,”_ Jiwon said. Hyojong pretended to be offended, gasping before letting out a huff.

“Well, shows how much you trust us I guess,” he said, making sure Jiwon could tell how (fake) upset he was. Jiwon sighed.

 _“Yeah yeah I’m sorry. Now what is it? I feel awkward talking on the bus,”_ Jiwon admitted. Hyojong held in his laughter and got on with his question.

“So Wooseok found-”

 _“Who’s Wooseok?”_ Jiwon suddenly interrupted. Hyojong was taken aback for a moment, figuring Jiwon knew who Wooseok was. He had introduced them, hadn’t he?

“Wooseok? He’s Yuto’s friend. He comes to practice a lot,” Hyojong explained. He heard Jiwon humming across the line but he didn’t seem to know who Hyojong was talking about. “He’s really tall, taller than all of us, black hair.”

 _“Oh!”_ Jiwon exclaimed. _“I know who you’re talking about. That tall kid who claims to be your biggest fan, right?”_

Hyojong grinned at the man’s words. “Yes, that’s him.”

_“Ah, ok. So, what about him?”_

“Well he’s at practice tonight and he accidentally found some bean bags in the storage room next to your office. He took one out and Hyunggu got the other one, but I wanted to know if we were allowed to use them.”

 _“Bean bags?”_ Jiwon questioned and Hyojong confirmed. Hyojong could hear the noisy, clattering bus Jiwon was on as the man remained silent. Then he said, _“Oh, those are for you guys.”_

“Wait, really?” Hyojong asked, confused as to what Jiwon meant.

 _“Yeah. They were on sale a couple weeks ago so I got a couple for you and the band. Though I guess I forgot about them. Sorry about that Hyojong. You can take them,”_ Jiwon explained.

“Wow, awesome! Thanks Jiwon! I’ll let the guys know you got them for us.”

_“Yeah ok. Is that all?”_

“Yes that’s it. Have a good night Mr. Eun.”

_“Good night Hyojong.”_

Jiwon hung up without another word and Hyojong grinned at the seemingly cold-demeanored man. He pocketed his cell phone and shut off the storage room light before hurrying into the practice room and telling the rest of the boys what Jiwon had said.

“Well, that’s unnaturally neat of him to do,” Hongseok said when he heard the news.

“Neat?” Jinho mocked with a smirk.

Hongseok threatened to hit Jinho with his drumsticks as Hyunggu, comfortable in his new spot on the floor, said, “Well I will have to thank him the next time I see him.”

“We all should,” Hyojong suggested, getting varied responses from all the boys in the room.

Hyojong went back to his desk and sat down, resuming his stare down at the paper with his half-written melody scribbled over the music staff. He was debating whether he should tell the rest of his bandmates about the song or wait and develop it some more when someone called his name. Hyojong glanced up at Hongseok who was sat behind his drum set.

“That big test you had was today right?” Hongseok asked and Hyojong nodded. “How’d it go?”

Before he could say anything, Hyunggu jumped in and said, “He was nervous the entire time.”

“I was not!” Hyojong defended, gaping at his “friend” as a few people chuckled.

“Sure you were!” Hyunggu pushed, his smile becoming as wicked as the Joker’s. “You were bouncing your leg the entire time.”

Hyojong got up and started throwing playful punches at Hyunggu who was attempting to sink further into the bean bag, his smile only growing. Everyone chuckled softly because they knew even though Hyunggu was being lighthearted, Hyojong _was_ really nervous for that test, so they didn’t push the teasing too much.

Hyojong let Hyunggu live for now, and even gave him his guitar from the couch upon the boy’s request. Hyunggu started mindlessly strumming, causing the rest of the band to resume playing their instruments at random. Hyojong went back to his desk and put the music sheet back in his notebook, planning to reveal the tune after he had worked on it a bit further.

10 minutes later and the band was still sitting around and practicing on their own. Someone suggested texting Yanan but they decided to give him a few more minutes.

10 _more_ minutes later there was still no sign of Yanan and no message saying where he was. Hyojong was starting to get a bit worried. No one was ever this late without telling one of the other members what was going on. He debated calling Yanan, but with the man’s behavior as of late, Hyojong figured he’d show up soon with a reason for his tardiness.

“Let’s get started guys,” Hyojong announced, wheeling towards the practice area.

“Are you sure?” Jinho questioned. Hyojong could see how nervous the man was just by observing the crease of his eyebrows.

“We can’t wait around anymore, we’re wasting practice time. Let’s get started, and when Yanan gets here, he can jump in.” Hyojong watched his bandmates slowly gather in the corner, heads lowered. “I’m sure he’s fine guys. Let’s try to have some trust in our friend,” he said, trying to cheer up the other worried men.

It was a slow start to practice but once everyone got into it they got a lot of work done. They ended up getting one of their newest songs down pat, despite not having their main singer there, but they made it through. Everyone even suggested playing it at their next gig because it was so much fun.

Hyojong was feeling good. Practice was going smoothly, their music was really coming along, and even though Yanan still hadn’t shown up, this was turning out to be one of their most successful rehearsals in a long time.

He mentioned these feelings to the rest of the band, everyone saying how they felt the same way. “Let’s have more practices like this one guys,” Hyojong said with a bit of a smile.

“Though, maybe with Yanan next time,” Yuto suggested causing Hyojong to laugh a little.

Another 30 minutes passed by filled with music and a lot of laughter before the group heard a loud squeak and a heavy thud, indicating the upstairs door had been opened and closed. Everyone quieted down for a moment until Hyojong motioned his hands around to keep them talking so it wasn’t awkward. When they all looked between themselves, scrambling on something to say, Wooseok suddenly screamed and started clapping, proceding to say how good the song sounded. Hongseok followed along, asking if his drumming sounded too overpowering. Then everyone started talking at the same time creating a realm of mild chaos - which, for this particular group of friends, was rather normal.

Just moments later Yanan appeared wearing a t-shirt two sizes two big for him, the hem pulled up so his hands could be shoved into his jean pockets, his head tilted towards his feet. Yanan looked up and glanced around at everyone talking with their natural goofy smiles and watched as they all looked towards him. The band enthusiastically spewed out various greetings to the singer and in response got a view of the top of Yanan’s head. The men looked between themselves before the youngest spoke up.

“Hey Yanan,” Hyunggu started. He glanced nervously at his fellow members. Yuto jerked his head towards Yanan, inching the boy to finish his thought. “You alright?”

Yanan slowly looked over the group again making every man curious as to what was going through his head. Then the vocalist’s eyes fell to Wooseok, who was still seated on the floor in the bean bag he found. One corner of Yanan’s mouth hitched up the smallest bit as he said, “I’m glad you’re here today Wooseok.” Yanan then addressed everyone in the room. “I need to talk to you guys.” Wooseok glanced behind him at the rest of the band before looking at Yanan and nodding.

“Of course Yanan,” Hyojong said, taking the words from everyone’s mouths.

“Thank you,” Yanan said softly.

Everyone set their instruments down and gathered around on the couches, all eyes focused on Yanan who was sitting on a chair placed in front of the drum set. Yanan stared at his hands with an intensity like he had never seen the appendages before. It seemed everyone was being patient, but Hyojong was nearly bouncing his leg with the anxiousness he was feeling as he waited for Yanan’s declaration.

Yanan took a deep breath, looked around the room, and said, “I’ve been meaning to tell you all this for a while now but, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.” Hyojong’s leg was actually bouncing now and he channeled every nerve he had to calm it down. He didn’t want to make Yanan more nervous than he already visibly was.

“Guys I…” Yanan cleared his throat. “In three days I’m going to China to study.”

The room was deathly silent, even the sound of breathing was snuffed out. It seemed blinking was out of the equation as well, every man staring at Yanan with silent shock as the man himself began a staring contest with the floorboards.

After a heavy minute an unnaturally small voice spoke up. “You…you’re what?”

It was Hongseok. Hyojong looked over to see his brown eyes wide and eyebrows drawn low on his forehead. He looked so disheartened and it made the gravity of Yanan’s words fully sink to the bottom of Hyojong’s stomach.

Yanan’s voice was so soft Hyojong almost had to lean in to hear properly. “I’ve been talking with the school, and in order to be able to teach Chinese here in Korea, I have to study abroad in China for a whole school year. I wanted to go next year, but the money needed to go to China is so high and my parents said they would only help pay if I went this year.” Yanan let out a loud breath. “I’m so sorry guys. I know I should have told you sooner, but I just felt so bad about leaving when we have planned gigs this winter already and I…” Yanan rushed a hand through his hair. His emotions have moved on, the nerves gone, replaced with anger. “I wish I didn’t have to go. I’m fluent in Chinese already, I don’t _need_ to study abroad. I’m Chinese for god sakes!”

As Yanan’s voice rose higher, Hyojong, still seated in his desk chair, rolled over to him, stopping the chair beside the man. He placed a hand just above Yanan’s knee, gaining his attention. Yanan’s head snapped to his side but once he met Hyojong’s soft, sad eyes, his anger started to dissipate.

“It’s ok Yanan,” Hyojong said. “We all know how much you want to teach Chinese. And if this is the way you can do that, we will all support you so you can get there.” Yanan looked around the room as everyone nodded, agreeing with Hyojong’s words.

Yanan’s lips formed into a saddened smile. “I knew you guys would be supportive. You’re all really awesome like that.” He smiled at everyone else in the room, some returning the small gesture. “I just feel horrible leaving you guys on such short notice. Leaving the band…”

Hyojong moved his hand and slapped it down onto Yanan’s shoulder. “You don’t need to worry about the band right now. You need to focus on studying. Got it Yanan?”

“But-”

“No, Hyojong is right.” Jinho stood up and put his hand on Yanan’s other shoulder. “You need to focus on your studies. The band doesn’t have any pressing concerns at the moment. And you said you’re leaving in three days, right?” Jinho nodded his head once Yanan did. “Right. That’s Sunday. So what you need to worry about is packing to go to China for several months!”

“I’m almost done, actually. I’ve known about this longer than you might think,” Yanan admitted, guilt highlighted all over his face.

“Is that why you didn’t want anyone coming over to your apartment?” Yuto suddenly voiced. The guilt on Yanan’s face was now outlined and contoured as if it was part of his features permanently.

“Yeah, it was. I had stuff all over the place and no plausible excuse, so I didn’t want anyone to see. I just wasn’t ready to tell you guys. I’m so sorry, I really am. I wish I could stay, even for the rest of the semester. But I just…I can’t.”

“It’s ok Yanan.” Yanan looked over to see Hyunggu giving him a smile. “It’s really fine. You want to teach and this is the way you can do it. You have to do it.”

“Yeah but I-”

“Oh would you stop apologizing?” Hongseok interrupted. Yanan looked at Hongseok with a bit of surprise. He knew Hongseok wasn’t mad, this was just his way of getting Yanan to calm down. “There’s nothing you can do about it right? So let’s just leave it at that.”

Yanan shook his head, looking down for a moment before showing everyone a small smile. “Ok,” he relented.

It was silent among the band members, most feeling there wasn’t more to say, even though their minds were racing. Wooseok, who had been silent for the entire conversation, finally stood up from his bean bag and placed his hands on his hips.

“Well, I know this is some sad news, but let’s not let it get us down too much!” Wooseok announced confidently. “We’ve got to do something so we aren’t all sitting around and pouting. Like a party or something.”

“Like a going away party?” Yuto asked. Wooseok shook his head.

“Kind of, but we won’t put it like that. It makes it more depressing.” Wooseok moved over next to Yanan and put an arm around his shoulders. “More like ‘Good luck, Yanan!’ or ‘Study hard, Yanan!’ or ‘Don’t get too drunk by yourself in China, Yanan!’”

Yanan shoved Wooseok away with a smile and Wooseok’s commentary successfully drew laughter from everyone else as well. Wooseok may not play any musical part in their band, but he was a vital piece of the group, keeping everyone in their right mind if things got too stressful. Making them laugh, giving them good feedback, or once in a while, sparking some much needed inspiration. He was as much a member as any one of them.

After a few minutes of throwing ideas back and forth, Jinho clapped his hands. “So instead of practice on Saturday we’re gonna have a party. Is everyone ok with that?” Everyone nodded in agreement and Jinho smiled. “Great!”

Despite the meaning behind the little party, Hyojong still smiled at the gathering excitement. He pulled out his phone and leaned towards the group. “Ok. So who’s bringing what?”

 

-

 

The October air was just cool enough that Hyojong could feel it across his skin when it blew around him. He almost wished he had worn something heavier over his t-shirt as a strong breeze blew his flannel open, but he was nearly to the practice studio anyways.

The city was bustling with activity that Hyojong didn’t normally see, since he was typically in practice on Saturday nights. He tried not to hit people with the plastic bags he held as he passed groups, clusters, batches of people. Hyojong had never seen this many people in one area. He never realized the city was so big.

Finally reaching the dance studio, Hyojong struggled with trying to open the heavy door with his hands full of bag straps. He was about to give up and just set some of the bags down when someone called out his name. Quickly he looked toward the street to see Wooseok walking towards him with some bags hanging from one hand.

“What are you doing?” the tall man asked.

“I’m trying to open the door,” Hyojong answered, raising his hands to showcase how full they were.

“Why don’t you put some down?” Wooseok grinned.

“Cause I knew if I put them down, they’d fall over and it would take even longer to try and gather them back so…” Hyojong scrunched his eyebrows at the other man. “Why am I even telling you. You have a free hand. Open the door, will ya?”

Wooseok chuckled but yanked the metal door open nonetheless. “Ok Hyojong.” He held it open and Hyojong walked in.

“Why do you have so much anyways? Weren’t other people bringing food too?” Wooseok asked as the two made their way to the basement.

“You know our friends, Wooseok. This and anything anyone else brings will all be gone by the end of the night. Guaranteed.”

“Yeah you’re right.”

As they reached the bottom of the steps the sound of music could faintly be heard from the practice room. Upon entering Hyojong found everyone was already there, _including_ Yanan. They were all sitting around talking between themselves with music as background noise.

“You call this a party?” Wooseok yells, heading over to Hyojong’s desk to put down his bags.

“We were waiting for you guys,” Yuto informs him.

“You didn’t have to wait,” Hyojong says. He moved over to the table in the corner to put his stuff down since the desk was already covered.

“Sure we didn’t. But you were bringing most of the beer Hyojong,” Hongseok said, making Hyojong laugh.

“Of course that’s why you were waiting.”

“Well now that everyone’s here, let’s get this party started!” Hyunggu exclaimed as he jumped up from the couch.

And that’s what they did. The music was changed to a dance party playlist and turned up nearly all the way. Everyone started pulling out cans of beer and popping the tabs. Once everyone held a drink of some kind they stood in a circle in the middle of the room. Hyojong raised his can with a smile.

“To Yanan!” he exclaimed.

“To Yanan!” everyone screamed, Yanan smiling widely, and crashed their drinks together in a messy toast before taking long sips. Hongseok swallowed and started cheering, somehow coercing all his bandmates to join him. It was a wonder they didn’t spill any alcohol on the floor.

More and more cans and bottles of beer were emptied from then on. Every man was dancing, whether with a drink or not, and having the time of their lives. Wooseok and Jinho ripped open bags of chips and they were devoured along with the dip someone had brought. Hyojong’s predictions were right: the group ate and drank like it was their last day on earth.

Hyunggu showed off his dance skill when a song he made choreography for came over the speaker and everyone cheered him on. With a bit of alcohol in their system, Hyunggu’s fans were a bit over the top, though no one truly cared about that at the time. Even after having a few drinks himself, Hyunggu was still executing his dance spectacularly, a bright smile spread across his face.

After about 20 minutes that was no longer the case.

With the beer collection they had a little over half-way gone already, all the men had turned into swaying noodles. Hyunggu’s seemingly endless years of dance practice continued to flow out of his body with every sip he took.

That’s how it went for the rest of the band members. They just kept drinking. Because despite the high energy and how much fun everyone was having, the meaning behind the party was still burning in the back of every one of their heads. Yanan was leaving the next day and even if they found a way to make him stay, that wouldn’t be good for his future. And without speaking a word to anyone else, Yanan’s friends all had the same thought process: it’s going to be hard without him, but I need to support him on this. And they all believed it wholeheartedly.

So they all kept drinking, no matter what they thought their limit was, attempting to drown their sadness in the universal mind-numbing substance.

Hyojong swung his head back and forth while his body moved the same way in a sluggish manner. Hongseok and Jinho had passed out against each other on one of the couches while the rest of the band was still trying their best to dance to the music no one had turned down yet.

After finishing off the beer in his hand, Hyojong glanced around at everyone else moving in the same manner as him, but his eyes stopped of their own volition on the man of the night.

Yanan was swaying as well with his arms in the air and they looked like they were floating while still magically being attached to his shoulders. All the problems that popped into Hyojong’s head when Yanan announced he was leaving were no longer registering in his drunken mind. All he could think of was how much he would miss the man.

Hyojong stumbled over to Yanan and bumped into him resulting in the taller man almost falling over as well. He needed to relay this information right now.

“I’m going to miss you Yanan,” Hyojong spewed out. Instead of his voice getting slower and slurred together when he got drunk, Hyojong would quickly get his words out of his head, though it was still hard to understand him sometimes.

Yanan threw his arm around Hyojong’s shoulders, his eyes only half open. “I’m going to miss you too Hyojong. You’ve been really great to me.”

“I’m going to miss you too Yanan,” Wooseok jumped in, sounding exasperated. The rest of the dancing musicians voiced their thoughts just after Wooseok and before they knew it they had formed a distorted, unstable group hug. But it was nice just the same. Hyunggu even suggested getting Hongseok and Jinho into the mix, even though they were still asleep. That didn’t register to any of the others as they quickly agreed and shuffled over to the couch, still in their little huddle, and fell on top of the two, successfully waking them up. The sleeping men both groaned and complained about being woken up. They all laughed and Jinho pushed Yuto off of him since he had gotten an elbow straight to the stomach.

But it was heartwarming to say the least.

 

-

 

Hyojong stumbled down the street, squinting every so often when he passed under a streetlamp and trying not to trip over the cracks in the sidewalk.

He was drunk. He didn’t remember being so drunk in a long time. He could barely keep his eyes open, training them on the ground and hoping he wouldn’t walk into a lamp post or another person - though at 2:30 in the morning there weren’t that many people on the streets to run in to.

Even though all his fellow band members were drunk, everyone kept offering to walk one another home, despite not one of them being better off than another. They all ended up going their separate ways, Hyojong promising if he couldn’t make it home he’d call Changgu to get him.

Hyojong wished Changgu would just come get him anyways, but he knew he shouldn’t call him unless he was desperate. So he kept wobbling along, his walk and appearance showing off how drunk he truly was. No one was out on the streets, they were all either at home or in one of the bars or clubs Hyojong was passing. He could hear the pulsing music radiating out of the buildings and it made his head hurt even from a distance.

Finally he reached his area of the city, which was much calmer and quieter, soothing for Hyojong’s sloshy brain process. He was still swaying slightly but the cool night air had helped bring him back to earth, just a bit. He continued down the street, just a few blocks away from his apartment building, though he stopped when he started to hear singing.

It was strange. Among the occasional car passing, wind, and other city sounds, a sudden singing voice cut through the night and resonated clearly in Hyojong’s head. He was still drunk and barely slowed his steps when he started to hear it, but he did know it was beautiful. It was slow but deliberately growing and invoking. If he was in his right mind Hyojong would stop and immediately seek out the source of the voice and possibly interrogate them - or, talk to them. But with only about an eighth of his mind working properly, and that whole part devoted to getting back home, he moved his steps forward, breathing in a chilly breath as he let the angelic tenor voice fade away and disappear under the roaring engine of a passing truck.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so so sorry that I haven't updated in literally forever. I wish I could say "now that I've gotten through this chapter I'll get better at updating", but I'm going to start my freshman year of college this week and I don't know how much time I'll be left with. I probably shouldn't have started uploading chapters till I had a few written because, as you can see, I'm horrible and updating. But I'm still excited to write this story and even if I don't give daily or even weekly updates, I really hope y'all will stick with me. This story will get finished, I promise. I just can't promise a time limit. I'm sorry.
> 
> Sorry for the long note, whoops, but I thank anyone who has read through it :) Leave a comment saying anything you'd like! it'd be nice to see some different personalities haha.
> 
> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Hang on tight fellas! We're just getting started XD
> 
> Love ya <3
> 
> -comments are welcomed and appreciated-
> 
> *V*


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